His saving grace
by BeautifulDizasterxDixon
Summary: Daryl finds a girl chained in house in the woods while on a run and saves her. She grows attached to him and believes he's her angel when she see's his wings.


The room had long ago grown cold with the nights chill after the sun set behind a bleeding massacre of red and purple streaks. Silence surrounded her , her naked body curled tight in a fetal postion as she shivered from the cold.

The men had left her there, laughing about burning her clothes to keep themselves warm in more ways than one. Thier touch had left her wanting to be sick , her stomach in coils from not just fear. She had watched her clothes burn into ash, and she had wished to join them. Anything to get away from their leering eyes and rough hands and mouths. They had stuffed her inan old dog cage,no blanket, no nothing. The other woman and her daughter didn't make it. The biters got them when they stopped to rest not long after the men had torn through their camp, killing the men and taking the women with them. "Women are in short supply if you know what I mean" The leader was a big burley man , long greasy hair matted against his head, and eyes ..such cold dead eyes. His voice seemed to drip vemon as he shouted for them to keep up. He didn't care that the woman , Linda , and her daughter Casey, no more than 12 , had no shoes on.

They had been drying off from washing themselves down with the ivory soap they had found in a home when searching for supplies that day. Casey cried quietly as the other men shoved them along in front of them. The leader had turned around at a fork in the woods and looked back at her. "Shut your mouth little girl or you gonna lose it". Linda pulled her tight at that point and whispered for her to please please stop crying. They kept on threw an unfamilar patch of woods for what seemed like hours, and then finally in the distance there appeared a to be a clearing. "Alright ya'll set up camp for a bit, i need ta rest and so do they." I almost laughed at him, but suppressed the urge. He didn't care if we lived or died..why pretend? The men set thier packs down while three others made sure our hands were tied tight behind our  
>backs .<p>

We sat huddled together while they built a small fire. For spring it was colder than expected but a fire was still a bad idea. I kept my mouth shut though as they got it started. Warmth hit my legs and I sighed, watching our captors rest around us, two of them standing guard on opposite sides of the camp. The leader had gone off to "hunt" . Said he needed to feed his new prizes. As if we were fish he won at a carnival or something. I lay down on my side, facing away from Linda and her daughter. She was stroking Casey's light brown hair , holding her close to her cheast, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. I couldn't worry about them and myself at the same time, I barley knew them. I had joined their small group only a few weeks ago, after my own group had  
>seperated and decided to go different ways. Linda's husband met in a deserted grocery store that was basically empty.<p>

His name was Chad. After talking for a short time he asked if I wanted to go back with them. I had agreed and helped him carry food and other things back to their small camp. Two other men plus Linda and Casey were waiting with such open arms for a new comer. I got along ok with everyone and had hated watching the leader of these men shoot him in front of his family.

I closed my eyes tight as I lay on the damp grass and dirt. The earthy smell lulled me to sleep and I tried to not dream of the human monsters that had taken away our only freedom we had left. Not long after drifting off, I was woken by screams of anger and pain. I rolled over and watched in horror as little Casey struggled against a walker who had sank his grusome teeth into her little pale arm. Her cries were cut short as a second one tore into her face, the sound of crunching bones and veins snapping me from my shock. I struggled to set up and with a small grunt forced myself up and standing. I ran toward a patch of bushes as the men fought against the small herd of walkers that had found us thanks to their fire. Linda was already gone, her body torn apart from trying to protect her babygirl . I felt cold hands on mine from behind me and let out a stangled scream."Shut your damn mouth!" the leaders nasty breath swamped my face as he pulled me along with  
>him.<br>His men mangaed to kill the small herd not long after, their groans and moans gone . Linda and Casey were gone now too and that left only me. One woman for six men. I shut down somehow inside as the men led me on threw the woods, only stopping to take a piss here and there or to kill more biters. 1`felt so empty inside as they drug me along the woods, my feet burning from hours of walking. We finally reached a small clearing where a large home sat, surrounded by acres of trees and a wooden swingset. It looked like it had been built right before the outbreak.

Still new looking despite the overgrown grass and dead biters that littered the lawn. Brown brick and cookie cutter shutters made it less scary than what it was. The leader opened the door wide and stood back as the one of the men pulled me threw the door. The home was empty, save for the few things the men had brought and placed in the oversize living room. Make shift pallets were in each corner and one in the middle. The evergreen walls had blood on some parts of it, probally from dead biters heads and bodies...or humans..

I really didn't want to know as he forced me to sit in the middle of the room on the nasty blood covered pallet.  
>The leader walked slowly into the dark room,a malicous smile on his beaten face. "Well men, looks like shes it" A chours of mean laughter and wolf howls flooded the room as my body went ridged with fear, disgust, and anxitey. He storde over and bent down, his face inches from mine as he storked my face with his hand. I cringed away only to feel the sharp sting of his palm against my face. My head reeled back as the men laughed. "Don't be afarid of the hands that feed you little mink" His chapped lips covered mine in a forced kiss as i tried not to gagg, his tougne shoved against mine , my body lowered to the pallet . I heard zippers being opened and closed my eyes tight as the man moved his body over mine, his hands ripping my clothes away. That was the night i felt as if my soul left my body and i was completly alone.. I gave up. I became silent and mute. For two weeks they came and went, always making sure they emptied themselves outside of me<br>on my cheast or stomach.

It wasn't until my third week with them that the leader came in with the huge dog cage they had discovered on one of their runs. I backed up against the wall they had me chained to , the rusted metal scrathcing against my broken skin. I cried through the gag, begging them not to. I was only met with menacing laugheter and rough hands like always. They liked then i begged, or cried, it seemed to get them off in such morbid ways. The leader whos name i finally discovered was Tom, set the large cage up beside me, throwing my bloody and damp blanket inside. He turned to me and unlocked the chains, my wrists gaining temporary freedom, as a sigh of quick relief hit my lips. Tom grabbed my cheeks with his large hands and squeezed.

"Now i can keep our little minx locked up tight so nothing can get to her ." He crashed his lips to mine and i tasted old whiskey that they must have found while they were out. Theywere mean drunks when they had the chance to be, but I prayed inwardly that tonight they would leave me alone to rest, cage or not. Tom stopped kissing me finally, my body limp in his grasp. He pulled me to the cage and I obentialy crawled inside, my fight long gone from me. I settled one the pallet and curled into myself as the men moved about the room. I lay staring blankely at them, my body shivering without the small blanket they used to let me have before I lost it a few days ago and bit one of the men. Tom had beat me for a long time, leaving me broken and bruised in the corner later on. They burned my clothes that day along with the meager blanket. My naked skin was covered in bruises still, sickish yellow and purple against freckled skin .

Tom stopped what he was doing and addressed the men mintues later. "Alright ya'll, we need'ta hunt for a few hours, see what we can catch'fore the sun sets , our minx is locked up tight so we ain't gotta worry none'bout her now ." He winked at me and I shut my eyes, shivering from a slight chill that had set in threw the broken window above me. The men grumbled back, mad that they couldnt hurt me tonight or have their sick and twisted fun. "Now now men, we gets back ya'll can play if you kill something for us'ta eat ya hear!" Hoots of new joy feeled the room i cringed again in disgust at what they had planned once they got back. I watched threw the slits of my eyes as they packed for a long hunting trip, one that I hoped would take all evening, giving me time to rest and cry in peace. Tom holsterd his guns and slung his machete behind his back in the sling he made out of deer skin for it.

He looked into the cage at me and made kissey noises at me. "Now ya be good minx, we be back'fore ya know it" he patted the cage and covered it with a huge quilt then hollered for the men to follow him.  
>They stomped out the house, locking the huge door up tight, the sound of the makeshift alarms they had set jangling.<p>

I lay on my pallet holding my breath, listening to the quiet surrounding me again.

I hated being there alone as much as I hated them being there with me. They didn't care that i was always left in the open , where any walkers could get to me and devour me. I wasn't sure what they did to keep them at bay but so far it had worked. I had heard Sam one of the men talking to another of them , saying they had set up alot of traps to catch the walkers as they called them. I was gratefull for that and that only. I didn't want to die like that, to have the dead feeding on my flesh.

I finally decided to sleep while they were gone, no use in sitting there waiting for them the whole time when I could be resting my tired and aching body. I got as comfortable as I could on the small pallet, ignoring the bloody spots as much as I could. I lay my head down and curled as night as I could into myself and closed my eyes. I let myself relax into my own thoughts, trying to make dreams come, nightmares willing. I didn't get that far into dreamland though. Light crunching sounds of twigs snapping caused me to sit straight up in the cage, my head hitting the top hard. I rubbed my scalp, listening close , hopping agianst all odds it wasnt a member of the dead. I didn't hear anything inhuman , I was hoping it would only be an animal curoius of where it was. I backed slowly into the back of the cage , my upper teeth biting down hard on my lips. I listened as the twigs snapped more, and the unmistaken  
>sound of human feet in boots coming closer to the house. "one of the men must have snuck back " I thought to myself as the boots crucnhed agains the sidewalk on the broken glass the men<br>had shattered along it.

I closed my eyes tight again and shut myself down inside. I would have to suffer threw it until Tom got back with the other men. The door opened to the house with a creak , their boots softly hitting the floor, proablly afarid of the walkers being in there with him. I waited silentley for the blanket to be moved...but it hadn't happened yet. I was so sure it was one of Tom's men, but then again..I could be wrong . I let out a small whimper of frustration, and heard the boots stop.  
>"Hello? anyone in there!" a deep voice spoke into the room. I didn't know that voice, which meant he was a stranger, maybe, against all i knew and hoped right now, he could save me.<p>

I whimpered again, my voice lost to me. I heard his boots come closer, and then finally the blanket was ripped off the cage.  
>"Holy shit, what'ta hell, are'ya ok?" the tall, muscaler man was welding a crossbow, his leather vest taunt against his broad chest, dark black hair hanging in his handsome face, shadowing his eyes. I shook my head and suprising myself whispered "please,...help me"<p>

"All right now, you be out soon ya'hear me, just hold on." He put down his crossbow and looked around for something to break the rusted lock on the cage. He spotted Tom's hammer near the corner where i used to lay and grabbed it. "Shield'ya face ok" I nodded and covered my face with the nasty pallet and waited,the sound of the hammer hitting the lock echoing in the room.  
>I heard it break and hit the floor, and wrapped the pallet around my naked body. The man dropped the hammer and opened the cage door . He reached in with one hand , treating me like a scared animal..<p>

I guess thats what I looked like at the moment. "Hey now, I ain't gonna hurt you none alright, I jus'wanna help you out'ta cage." I nodded my head slowly and let my hand grasp his.

He helped me out of the cage and I stood up strecthing slowly , the pallet clutched to me. I noticed his eyes were blue as he stared down at me.

"Got a name?" I nodded and whispered "Faith". He gave a small smile . "well I'm Daryl, I'm not gonna ask why ya was in a damn cage, but we gotta move'fore whoever put ya there comes back ok" I nodded again and clutched his hand. He picked up his crossbow with the other and led me from the room. Stopping at the front door he looked down at me. "You got any clothes girl? shoes?

I shook my head and whispered "they burned them" He frowned hard and shook his own head. "I have'ta carrry ya for a bit then, that ok?" I nodded and waited, then i was suddlenty air born and  
>across his back , my butt in the air. He never once touched me where he shouldnt have, and I relaxed.<br>"hang on tight now, be just a minute ok"

He stepped out of my prison and into the first sunlight i had seen and felt on my skin in weeks. I watched the house of horrors as my resucer  
>made his way into the woods, leaving it behind me finally.<p> 


End file.
